When Vicente Sconza opened a candy kitchen in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1939 as an Italian immigrant he was living the sweetest life possible. He had no idea that his American dream would take his small company all the way a plant that was once home to Hershey’s – the pinnacle of the American candy market and the dominant force in the confectionary world. Since 2008 the artisan candy-maker has made Oakdale the base of its operations after Hershey ceased operations and moved its manufacturing to a plant in Mexico, creating a golden opportunity for what had always been an Oakland based outfit that was quickly outgrowing its digs.